On April 1st 1700 in England, pranksters began to popularize the tradition of playing practical jokes on each other. Several centuries have gone by and many cultures have their own story of how the big day of April fools day originated.
One story is that it dates back to 1582 in France when the Julian calendar was switched to the Gregorian calendar. This was ordered in the Council of Trent in 1563. News, however, had not reached some and others had failed to realize that the start of the new year started January 1st. Celebrations continued during the last week of March through April 1st and those folks became the joke and many hoaxes took place as well. Pranks such as having paper fish placed on their backs. These individuals who were tricked would become known as April fish, those that were young, easily caught and gullible type of person.
Ancient Rome may have been where April Fools day was born as well. Historians have linked April Fools day to festivals such as Hilaria that came at end of March. Individuals would dress up in disguises
Other thoughts of April Fools day is that it is tied to the first day of spring. Mother nature fooled people to believing that the weather was one way then changing quickly so the weather was very unpredictable.
During the 18th century April Fools day would reach Britain. Scotland actually had a tradition of having a two day event. One day individuals were sent on what was known as a "hunting the gowk" where they were sent out to do phony errands. Gowk means cuckoo bird which also a symbol for fool. The second day was Tailie day where pranks were played on individuals that included pinning fake tails or "kick me" signs on them.
Modern time may be the worst. Through history there have been elaborate April Fools' Day hoaxes played. Newspapers, radio and TV have been involved and Web Sites have joined the fun as well. The tradition of reporting outrageous fictional stories have fooled many audiences. From spaghetti crops grow by farmers and shared on the nightly news even demonstrated how noodles were harvested from trees.
One of our families best April Fool Jokes is how two of those we have loved from birth would end up married. Through childhood, school years and even teenage days they never quite saw eye to eye. Imagine our surprise when they remet many years later and were married on April fools day, 2015. 
Not saying anything but she was a beautiful bride. Any mama would say that and yes, I am her mom and I did. I pray these two see many more years together.
shared this special memory day post at
home matters party
bouquet of talent party
It was cool reading about the history of April Fool's Day. Now I know how it originated :)
ReplyDeleteGood to know how it all started. You did a good research about April Fools origins.
ReplyDeleteI learned so new knowledge today. Blessings
ReplyDeleteI think that during the years the BBC had quite the pranks lines up for April fool's day. I think their best was the flying penguins documentary, from 2008.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know April Fools day had so much history to it. Now I know a bit more. Thank you for the positive post. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for such a great post! I didn't know that April fool's day has such an interesting history to it.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea how April Fools day originated. This is great!
ReplyDeleteHonestly didn't know how April fools day came around. Knowing the root now speaks a lot.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting stuff, learned a lot from this
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this! I learned a lot!
ReplyDeleteWell of all these years, that I celebrated this holiday and I'm still learning about it. This was an informative post. Thanks for sharing!
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